Wieland Schmied is an art critic and essayist. He was director of the Kestner Gesellschaft in Hanover, where he organized the first big Hundertwasser retrospective in 1964, with an accompanying catalogue raisonne. From 1974 to 1975 he was chief curator at the Berliner Nationalgalerie, from 1978 to 1986 the director of the German Artist Exchange Program (DAAD), Berlin and afterwards director of the Munich Academy of Fine Arts. He is currently president of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts, Munich.